Austrian Guilty Of Lying On Papers

An Austrian man fighting extradition to his native country on fraud charges was found guilty yesterday of lying on his U.S. immigration paperwork.

After just an hour of deliberations, a federal jury convicted Michael Peter Spitzauer on one count of document falsification, concluding that he lied on his application to become a permanent resident in July 1995.

Spitzauer, 29, had checked a box saying he'd never been convicted of a crime, despite having been released from an Austrian prison only three months earlier. He served four years of a six-year fraud sentence before being paroled.

Federal defender Jay Stansell said Spitzauer simply made a mistake on the forms, which he described as lengthy and confusing.

"Mr. Spitzauer maintains his innocence," Stansell said. "He will appeal the jury's verdict."

Spitzauer was arrested by U.S. marshals in January at the request of authorities in Austria, where he is accused of defrauding Austrian victims of more than $700,000 in unrecovered loans and credit-card bills.

He came to the United States in April 1995 and married a Seattle woman three months later. The couple now has two young sons.

Expenses for Spitzauer's wedding and a Hawaii honeymoon are among the issues raised in an Austrian warrant for his arrest. The warrant alleges Spitzauer fraudulently used a credit card belonging to his best man, an Austrian, to cover more than $30,000 in hotel bills and travel costs for wedding guests.

Spitzauer, who is being held at the Pierce County Jail, is contesting the U.S. government's efforts to extradite him. Last month, he sued the U.S. Marshals Service, claiming he's being unlawfully detained.

His attorney, Margaret Smith, is challenging the U.S.-Austrian extradition treaty of 1930 on the grounds that it was rendered defunct by the 1938 German takeover of Austria before World War II. Argument on the extradition case is scheduled for mid-January.

In yesterday's closing arguments in the immigration case, assistant U.S. Attorney Holly Morris portrayed Spitzauer as a man anxious to re-establish himself in the United States after being released from an Austrian prison.

Morris noted that Spitzauer's wedding came just five days before his visa was to expire, and also highlighted Melissa Spitzauer's testimony that her husband didn't tell her about his previous conviction.

However, Stansell said "confusion, carelessness and a form that made no sense" were responsible for the incorrect information. Spitzauer's immigration attorney should have noticed the error on the form, Stansell added.

When the jury returned with its verdict, U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein noted that jurors had marked a wrong box on the verdict form.

The irony was not lost on attorneys from either side. Stansell said the gaffe "demonstrates just how easy it is to make a mistake on an important government form."

Sentencing is set for Jan. 30.